Derek Carr insists that the Las Vegas Raiders would not have been content with a tie against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday night, and the quarterback seemed to credit Aaron Rodgers for helping him maintain that mindset.
The Raiders secured a spot in the postseason with an overtime win over L.A. Had the two teams tied, both would have gotten into the playoffs and the Pittsburgh Steelers would have been eliminated. There were times in the OT period where it looked like Las Vegas was angling for the tie, but Carr told NBC’s Michele Tafoya after the Raiders’ 35-32 win that his intention was to go for it. He mentioned how he texted with Rodgers about the situation.
“We knew no matter what we didn’t want to tie. We wanted to win the football game,” Carr said. “My mindset all day, I was even texting with Aaron Rodgers this morning, my mindset was to make sure we were the only team moving on after this.
“Aaron’s always been good to me since I came into the league. We became friends, so we talk. Aaron, I appreciate your encouragement today.”
Carr didn’t go into detail about what he and Rodgers discussed, but it seemed fairly obvious. Rodgers probably told him that he would be in trouble if he went into such a big game thinking about tying. That’s a recipe for failure.
Of course, the Raiders may have ended up with the tie had it not been for a horrible decision from Chargers head coach Brandon Staley. Carr and his teammates would have been fine with a tie, but getting into the playoffs with a win must feel that much better.
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